diff --git a/cmd/compose/run.go b/cmd/compose/run.go
index fc5f76421f5..e03577b2c21 100644
--- a/cmd/compose/run.go
+++ b/cmd/compose/run.go
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ type runOptions struct {
 	name          string
 	noDeps        bool
 	quietPull     bool
+	EnvFiles      []string
 }
 
 func (opts runOptions) apply(project *types.Project) error {
@@ -141,6 +142,7 @@ func runCommand(p *projectOptions, backend api.Service) *cobra.Command {
 	flags := cmd.Flags()
 	flags.BoolVarP(&opts.Detach, "detach", "d", false, "Run container in background and print container ID")
 	flags.StringArrayVarP(&opts.environment, "env", "e", []string{}, "Set environment variables")
+	flags.StringArrayVar(&opts.EnvFiles, "env-file", []string{}, "Read in a file of environment variables")
 	flags.StringArrayVarP(&opts.labels, "label", "l", []string{}, "Add or override a label")
 	flags.BoolVar(&opts.Remove, "rm", false, "Automatically remove the container when it exits")
 	flags.BoolVarP(&opts.noTty, "no-TTY", "T", false, "Disable pseudo-noTty allocation. By default docker compose run allocates a TTY")
@@ -212,6 +214,7 @@ func runRun(ctx context.Context, backend api.Service, project *types.Project, op
 		NoDeps:            opts.noDeps,
 		Index:             0,
 		QuietPull:         opts.quietPull,
+		EnvFiles:          opts.EnvFiles,
 	}
 	exitCode, err := backend.RunOneOffContainer(ctx, project, runOpts)
 	if exitCode != 0 {
diff --git a/pkg/api/api.go b/pkg/api/api.go
index 5d963569cc3..7e98a5aa2b2 100644
--- a/pkg/api/api.go
+++ b/pkg/api/api.go
@@ -230,7 +230,8 @@ type RunOptions struct {
 	// QuietPull makes the pulling process quiet
 	QuietPull bool
 	// used by exec
-	Index int
+	Index    int
+	EnvFiles []string
 }
 
 // EventsOptions group options of the Events API
diff --git a/pkg/compose/run.go b/pkg/compose/run.go
index 42022300f1d..7b89fe7fe67 100644
--- a/pkg/compose/run.go
+++ b/pkg/compose/run.go
@@ -222,4 +222,8 @@ func applyRunOptions(project *types.Project, service *types.ServiceConfig, opts
 	for k, v := range opts.Labels {
 		service.Labels = service.Labels.Add(k, v)
 	}
+
+	if opts.EnvFiles != nil {
+		service.EnvFile = opts.EnvFiles
+	}
 }